Denmark’s economy grew by 1.1 percent in 2018, according to a Statistics Denmark estimate. Analysts have described the figure as encouraging.
The figure is indicative and dependent on a number of uncertain factors, with several aspects yet to be accounted for.
In the last three months of 2018, the economy grew by 0.8 percent more than in the preceding quarter.
Growth in both industry and transport were important contributors to the result, according to Statistics Denmark.
Economists said the figures were a good sign for Denmark, particularly given that large economies such as China and Germany saw a challenging end to 2018.
“This is pleasing, taking into account the slow-down in the German economy and increasing international uncertainty in the same period,” Confederation of Danish Industry lead economist Morten Granzau told Ritzau.
Last year was, in fact, a better year for Denmark’s economy that the figure of 1.1 percent suggests, according to Anders Christian Overvad, an economist with bank Arbejdernes Landsbank.
A nine-billion-kroner sale of a patent in 2017, which swelled figures for that year; and last year’s poor harvest following a dry summer, both had unusual negative effects on growth, according to Overvad.
But Denmark could still be affected by global trade tensions, the economist said.
“Political uncertainty is playing a key role. If the trade war between the United States and China escalates further, that will be felt by world trade and thereby Danish export,” he said.
Global growth is also slowing down, Overvad added, with foreign companies less optimistic than in the past, another factor that could affect Danish exporters.
